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posted by janrinok on Monday March 21 2022, @01:59PM   Printer-friendly
from the first-post^w-attack dept.

Hypersonic Missile Possibly Used for the First Time in Combat

Russia claims to use a hypersonic missile in attack on arms depot in Ukraine.

Russia has fired scores of guided missiles into Ukraine, but on Saturday it claimed for the first time that it had launched one capable of hypersonic speed in an attack on an ammunition depot in western Ukraine. The report could not be independently verified, but if true could be the first use of a hypersonic weapon in combat.

Hypersonics, generally defined as weapons capable of flying at speeds over Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, are at the center of an arms race among the United States, Russia and China.

[...] A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said hypersonic missiles, called Kinzhals, had destroyed the underground warehouse storing Ukrainian missiles and aviation ammunition in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region of Ukraine.

Yuriy Ignat, a spokesman for Ukraine's military, confirmed Saturday that Russian forces had hit an underground warehouse in western Ukraine but said the type of missile involved "is yet to be determined."

Russia Reports First Use of Hypersonic Missile

Russia reports first use of hypersonic missile:

The Russian military says it used its latest hypersonic missile, Kinzhal, for the first time in combat during its offensive in Ukraine. The Kinzhal is a nuclear-capable hypersonic aero-ballistic air-to-ground missile.Spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the hypersonic missiles destroyed an underground warehouse storing missiles and aviation ammunition of Ukrainian troops in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region.

Second Kinzhal Missile Fired

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/20/russia-says-it-used-hypersonic-missiles-in-ukraine-for-second-day

Russia has claimed that a 2nd hypersonic missile ("Kinzhal" - dagger) was used on 20 Mar against "a Ukrainian fuel depot in Kostiantynivka near the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv."


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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 21 2022, @04:24PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 21 2022, @04:24PM (#1230886) Journal
    There might also be the matter of range (these are being used in the western part of the Ukraine further away from Russian launch sites, where attack options may be very limited) and time to target. On the latter, if you're using subsonic missiles, there's much more time for the enemy to react to a sighting of the missile (say someone radioing it in as it crosses the Ukraine border, including direction of travel) by taking some quick precautions - put a few planes in flight from an airfield that might be targeted, get some people out of the ammo dump, that kind of thing.